What makes a 29er a 29er?

Serious question after seeing this on another thread, I can’t quite work out what is what. A badboy is 700c, yet this badboy is 29er, same size wheels, is it bigger tyres? The blurring of the lines seems ridiculous. If it is geometry then surely this is just an mtb with slick tyres so why list it as a commuter. Does it not just do the sane thing as a regular badboy…

Differentiation between road/commuter and mountain bike lines? Marketing?

700c and 29er are the same size just different marketing terms. It’s all just marketing tosh.

Anything with a 29 inch wheel is a 29er.

So a road bike and cyclocross bike are 29ers because they have 700c wheels? Er no.

700c wheel plus a chunky off-road tyre makes a 29er.

So a road bike and cyclocross bike are 29ers because they have 700c wheels? Er no

But you said it yourself they have the same size wheels of 29″ so why not a 29er? It’s just how you choose to distinguish between them based on what the marketing people say.

I suppose 29er is a mtb term to differentiate the bikes from their 26er cousins, the wheel size may be the same size as road/hybrid bikes, but obviously mtb’s have different geometry and are built a bit burlier than bikes designed purly for the road.

Now that the term 29er has become more mainstream brands like Cannondale are obviously happy to use it to describe a hybrid bike with 700c wheels that also (or at least used to )have 26″ wheels. I suppose they think it sounds better than “Badboy 700c’er”.

I agree its a marketing term, but its grown to be used to describe a specific wheel type and that isn’t a road wheel – a MTB is stronger, has more spokes, takes a bigger tyre, etc so its not just about the diameter of the wheel, its covers its intended use also

However, it does get a little blurred when you start talking of hybrids

29ers are actually 28ers.

But that sounds silly.

Exploding wheels!

HTH

The imperial system

<insert Pulp Fiction pastiche here>

29ers are actually 28ers.

well actually 700c is smaller than the old 27″ standard on road bikes, So 29ers are actually smaller than 27ers which makes them 26″?

The blurring of the lines seems ridiculous

The badboy is a deliberate mash up of road and MTB components and geometries. Blurred lines are the point of the bike.

Previous versions either had 26″ fat slick MTB tyres or a road rim and thin tyre which are both in effect the same diameter (I run road rims and tyres on my old MTB). The development of 29r MTBs means fat slick tyres are now also available so this a bike built around that bigger overall wheel diameter. Even if the rim is nominally the same these wheels wouldn’t fit in the older generations of badboy frames.

It’s just how you choose to distinguish between them based on what the marketing people say.

the distinction revolves around a bit more than that. Theres more than marketing distinguishing a BMX and a Raleigh Shopper but they both have the same size wheels.

Outside diameter, and generalisations.

Bikes used to be measured that way, eg a 27″, if you had a fatter tyre the BSD of tyre and rim would be smaller to maintain the 27″ OD.

A 700x55c is ~29″ OD.

29ers are actually 28ers.

as are some 650Bs, yet my 29er is 29.5″. I have some older Conti ’29er’ tyres that were marked 28×1.9 though, from going back to the older OD system I think.

29ers are actually 28ers.

No they’re not, a 29r with a typical current tyre is.. 29″ maybe more, tyres choices were a bit slim and XC when 29ers first appeared. The 26er in your sheds is probably nearer to 27″ – Very few of us still fit 1.9″ tyres

thisisnotaspoon – Member
29ers are actually 28ers.

well actually 700c is smaller than the old 27″ standard on road bikes, So 29ers are actually smaller than 27ers which makes them 26″?

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no, no, no, they are 26.5″ obviously, ’cause that’s what “makes the trail come alive”

The difference is the mtb vers all end in er

The tyre (a Panaracer Marathon) on one of my 29er 700c unis is marked as 28×2.00

Isn’t there a defined tyre in the metric system? 700c actualy being defined by a diameter and a width, so the latest ‘wide’ rims aren’t technicaly 700c. In the same way 650b is not the same as womens/lids/track/TT bikes had 650c wheels, which are actualy the same rims as 26″ on MTB.

Confused much?

The tyre (a Panaracer Marathon) on one of my 29er 700c unis is marked as 28×2.00

That’s fairly common with innertubes at least, Continental 700c inertubes are sold as 28″.

The ETRO/ISO size for the wheel size in question is 622 IIRC and is the wheels diameter, which makes sense as we’re measuring wheel size not tyre size…

Which doesn’t sound as good as 29er, even though the 29er could be anything from 622 (with a ruber band for a tyre) to the diameter that wont’ fit through the forks.